A Philadelphia man being tracked by the Drug Enforcement Administration allegedly dropped a pound of meth on the streets of Minersville in a vehicle pursuit.
According to a police affidavit filed last week, Jeffery Dees Jr. is facing a whole host of charges related to an incident in May.
On May 22, Trooper Jordan Jiminez says he was staked out at the Fuel Up gas station in Minersville monitoring traffic.
Jiminez says he had recently received information from the DEA-Philadelphia Field Division that a vehicle driven by Dees, of Philadelphia, contained a large amount of a controlled substance.
Shortly after 8 p.m. that night, Jiminez says he spotted a light blue Ford Taurus making a left turn onto Sunbury St. in Minersville. Jiminez says he saw the driver of this vehicle trying to conceal his identity.
Jiminez decided to follow the vehicle. The right light illuminating the license plate was out, according to Jiminez. When he got behind the Taurus, Jiminez says it turned into the Dollar General parking lot.
At this time, Jiminez says he initiated a traffic stop in the parking lot of the store. He exited his vehicle and began speaking to the driver.
That’s when the driver made his getaway.
Trooper Hana Ford, assisting on the traffic stop was first to give chase. Jiminez says he followed Ford’s vehicle in pursuit of the Taurus.
Police say the vehicle they were chasing made a left onto Lewis St., going the wrong way on this one-way street. It then made a left onto N. Front St. without using a turn signal.
At the intersection of N. Front and Sunbury streets, the vehicle made a left, blowing through a red light and onto the Pottsville-Minersville Highway, headed south.
While on the highway, Jiminez says the vehicle followed three vehicles too closely, failed to use a turn signal three times, left its lane of travel seven times, and crossed the concrete barrier twice, going into the northbound travel lane of the roadway.
The Taurus nearly hit two vehicles in the opposing lane.
Police had to use three PIT maneuvers to eventually get the vehicle stopped and end the pursuit with the Taurus in the northbound travel lane of the highway.
Dees was identified as the driver at that time. Police say that Dees had a suspended license.
Jiminez says that Dees agreed at the scene to speak with him.
A pound of meth on the street
As police investigated the incident, the area from where the vehicle initially fled was searched. Police say they found a large plastic bag that contained a full pound of meth at the intersection of Lewis St. and N. Delaware Ave.
A search of the vehicle conducted while it was stopped on the Pottsville-Minersville Highway, according to police, contained:
- A Multi-colored small bag labeled as “Doctor Drip 873” containing suspected marijuana
- A clear glass smoking device
- A pair of Pennsylvania IDs belonging to a Stephen John DEVLIN and two Visa debit cards belonging to the same person.
More than a month later, on June 25, DEA Agent Rob Lewis visited the PSP-Schuylkill Haven barracks and notified police there that they’d previously placed a mobile tracking device on Dees’ Taurus.
Lewis said the DEA had been tracking Dees’ activity and witnessed him getting the meth from another, unnamed person
Lewis says he nor other police saw Dees drop the meth from the vehicle during the chase.
Dees was arraigned before District Magistrate David Plachko on the 25th and remanded to Schuylkill County Prison on $75,000 bail, which hasn’t been posted.
On July 23, Dees will answer to a host of charges related to the May 22 incident at a Preliminary Hearing.
Among the most serious charges he’s facing are felony fleeing or eluding police, possession with intent to deliver, and escape. He ‘s also being cited with numerous traffic violations.
Ron
July 2, 2024 at 6:05 am
If the dea was tracking him, why weren’t they the ones that stopped him?